On Friday I had the pleasure of participating in Educate Maine’s 4th annual Symposium and Leadership Celebration. By far and away the highlight of the day was recognizing over 30 educators for their excellence and achievements. These folks deserved it – and they actually beamed when they stood to be applauded by over 300 attendees. It was a true feel-good moment.

Feeling good about education is something we don’t do often enough. While the headlines focus on conflict and under-performance, we have educators who do great work. Often that work is overshadowed by negativity, so it’s more than appropriate to take the time for the business community to salute what’s good in our education system.

Educate Maine is the statewide business organization that supports educational excellence and equity from pre-school to adult learning, and everything in between. I’m lucky to be chair of the Board this year and I look forward to continuing the business community’s efforts to improve educational outcomes for all our learners. It’s not an easy mission, and it’s not driven by the holiday spirit. It’s one of the most pressing economic and community needs we face, and without success we’ll be far less of a state than we ought to be.

Data drives Educate Maine – click here for the 2015 Indicators Report that frames the good, the bad and the imperative to do better. In the numbers you’ll find success, but you’ll also see the compelling need to improve several categories of performance, including better achievement for rural and poor students. We all need to be accountable to performance standards – and you should expect renewed debate over how to do better at raising educational excellence across the state in 2016.

But as the debate continues, don’t forget to say thank you to the educators who’ve made a difference in your world. They deserve our thanks. After all, a huge part of our future lies in their hands.